Hexic 2 - Xbox Live Arcade review

Aug 15, 2007

You've played Hexic. It's that quirky little puzzle game that came with your Xbox 360 (assuming your 360 came with a hard drive). And chances are you either love it, or hate. And if you hated it... well, then there's no chance you're gonna like Hexic 2. To say it's just more of the same would be an understatement.

An understatement, but not an entirely fair statement. Hexic 2 brings back the same three modes of the original Bejeweled-meets-Tetris gem-matching game. Play a leisurely game of Marathon, trying to create as many special jewels as possible; play an intense Timed game and try to beat the clock; or Survival mode, where the object isn't to get as many combos as possible, but to clear out each well to the best of your ability.

Each mode has received a few tweaks here and there that help keep the game fresh. Most important of these is the addition of new special gems, and their new abilities. Along with creating Starflowers and Black Pearls by matching up six of the same gems, you can now also create Rubies and Emeralds, which can actually flip the gems surrounding them, rather than rotating them. These new items actually add a lot to the game play. Plus the fact that you can blow up any of said special gems whenever you like, setting off a point-scoring chain reaction if you plan it right.